Matching sibling names: cute or cheesy?

I BLAME the Kardashians. Not for mind-numbingly dull reality TV - though I do blame them for that too - but for the ever-growing trend of matchy-matchy sibling names.

In case you've been living under a rock, the 'kurvacious' sisters, who star in Keeping Up with the Kardashians, are Kim, Kourtney and Khloe. Their mum is Kris. Their half-sisters are Kendall and Kylie. Oh yeah, and Kim had a daughter with Kanye West. Guess what they called her? No, not a K name! North. As in North West. Groan.

Then there's Mariah Carey who named her twins Moroccan and Monroe, and the list goes on. But matching sibling names aren't just limited to the same first letter. Other trends include rhyming names (Dan, Jan, Stan, Fran), alphabetical names (Andrew, Belle, Clara, David) and names that follow a theme (Scarlett, Jade, Cyan, Rusty).

It seemed like a good idea at the time…

Sydney mum-of-three Janice chose to take the rhyming route.

"I had Aiden first, and when it came time to choose my second child's name, I figured it might be cute to make it rhyme," she says.

"It was a girl, so I chose Lauren. But by my third, I was running out of ideas! I wanted to stick to the theme though, so we settled on Jayden. It sometimes feels a bit silly to me now that they're a bit older … I don't know if I'd do it again."

See, that's the thing - it seems like a good idea at the time, until you have to introduce your brain surgeon, lawyer and venture capitalist children as Johnnie, Donnie and Ronnie.

If you feel the need to pick a theme, why not choose an inconspicuous one? You could opt for names that have been used in your family in past generations (traditional monikers are back in a big way at the moment, so how about Ava, William, Sophie and Thomas?) or ones that start with the last letter of the previous name (Jason, Nicole, Edward, Dawn).

Then again, if an obvious theme is your thing, more power to you. But don't say I didn't warn you if your little Zoe, Chloe and Noe end up spruiking diet shakes on the back of their 15 minutes of reality TV fame.